Sylvie Rigot, ex-Speakrine and emblematic voice of RTBF, remembers her beginnings: “I cried because I found that I looked stupid”

“Yes, I’m always surprised that you can remember me or that it could interest anyone … but it makes me happy at the same time.”

This proves that you are a figure of RTBF which remains in the memory of people …

“Apparently. In any case for those who are over 45, I think … The youngest have never seen me on television. Even my youngest children have not seen me, or they don’t remember it.”

Do you remember your beginnings in 1979? It seems that you cried …

“It is true. The first announcement I made, we exceptionally recorded it so that I could ‘correct myself’ after seeing it. I cried because I found that I looked completely stupid and that I will never get there.”

You were born in Africa …

“Yes, in Elisabethville, now Lubumbashi, Katanga, and we returned in 1964 when I was six years old. My dad is Brussels and my Tournaisian mom. We first lived in Brussels for three years, and then dad was appointed to Tournai, which was nice. I lived there until I was 17.”

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Do you remember expressions specific to Tournai?

“I have some memories of the Picard … But my brothers have integrated much more than me. But I understand almost everything. When I lived there, I really liked going to the Walloon cabaret reviews.”

What did you keep from your childhood in Africa in Africa?

“I especially have memories of Kolwezi. My father was a magistrate there. I also have memories of children’s games, to go fishing on the lake with my father, colors and smells too.”

In the show, we can see your mom Anne-Marie, who is 95 years old…

“Yes! Mom, it’s one of my pillars. She is still so lively: she reads (she is a big fan of Jean Echenoz), she watches Talk Information Talk on TV …”

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We know it less, but you have completed your end of career as responsible for continuity to RTBF. What is it?

“That what is broadcast on the antenna corresponds to the decisions of the management. It must be the right soap at the right time, that the direct begins on time … It’s like a script job, but at the level of the whole antenna. I really liked it.”

You obtained the 1st prize in dramatic art at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 1982. You do not regret not having made a career in the theater?

“No, because things came like that. I still did theater in the 90s when I lived in Tourinnes-la-Grosse, in Walloon Brabant. I loved doing this. If I have to have a single regret, it is not to have been able to play the role of Mademoiselle Beulemans, for example. I dreamed …”

You have another passion, this is declamation …

“At the beginning of the 2000s, I resumed studies and I obtained a higher diploma in Decision at the Brussels Conservatory, with Charles Kleinberg. He really enriched my soul. Even today, I read poems when I was asked and I love it.”

Imagine that you come back to the antenna to present a program today, all channels combined, which would be?

It would be Homecoming on the three. Or then One day in history on the first. History is another of my passions. I have a small weakness for eras like the end of the Roman Empire to the Carolingians. I also listen to a lot of historical podcasts. I keep marveling from world history.

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Tonight’s show smells good nostalgia. Is it something that speaks to you?

“Nostalgia is one of the words of the French language that I prefer. Being nostalgic thinking about the past is not necessarily negative.”

Sometimes you review your old colleagues?

“I am in contact by Facebook with Micheline Michaël, as well as with Jean-Paul Prosecutor, who welcomed me for three years in Table cards. I still met a lot of people in 40 years with whom I kept friendships. But life is what it is. It separates us, even if in our hearts we are near the other. “